省长 (shěng zhǎng) — governor of a province

Definition

noun

governor of a province

Measure word · 位

省长。
shěng zhǎng Míng tiān yào lái wǒ men xué xiào shì chá.
The governor is coming to inspect our school tomorrow.
省长。
Zhè wèi shěng zhǎng zài rèn qī jiān zuò le hěn duō shí shì.
This governor did a lot of practical things during his term.
省长。
Shěng zhèng fǔ de gōng zuò yóu shěng zhǎng zhǔ chí.
The work of the provincial government is presided over by the governor.

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

省 means province and 长 means chief, giving the chief of a province.

Characters in this word

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

The upper part of 省 is a changed form of 生, which gave the sound, while the lower 目 is an eye; the picture showed looking closely or inspecting.

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 長; 长 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 長 pictures an old man with long hair. The simplified 长 is a later shorthand, so its strokes do not show that original picture.